Passion Yields Profitability

Joy combines a passion for analyzing how today's marketing and management decisions affect tomorrow's profitability with a keen sense for what it takes to successfully integrate these strategies within your organization. This process leads to thorough evaluation of all your options, richer understanding of the implications of change, and insights that result in better decision-making. It also identifies drivers for profitability and key control points that simplify monitoring for overworked managers.

Another of Joy's passions is production agriculture. She grew up on a grain and livestock farm and still farms with her husband on weekends—now as one of a growing class of "lifestyle farmers." Joy combines business sense with an understanding of your issues from the personal, emotional perspective of the producer.

These passions have merged to yield better solutions for agribusiness. Joy has led the strategic planning process for everything from the launch of new businesses to the revitalization of mature product brands for companies ranging from the Fortune 100 to entrepreneurial start-ups. So she knows the "right" solution is only right if it fits the culture and abilities of your organization.

Key experiences:

• Successfully launched more than 20 new products ranging from U.S. dairy parlors to global herbicides and spray equipment. Included product development, pricing strategies, distribution plans, sales training and marketing/promotion planning and execution.
• Maximized results from the value chain with special emphasis on motivating key influencers and dealers/distributors. Convincing these audiences to sell for you instead of the competition is even more important given today's stretched resources.
• Developed customer-acquisition and customer-retention programs that yielded more than a 20:1 return based on new segmentation strategies. This skill is especially important for ag marketers who face a stagnant or shrinking market in terms of customer numbers.

Education:

• Bachelor of Science, University of Illinois
  Major: Agricultural Communications
• Master of Business Administration, University of Chicago
  Concentrations: Strategic Management, Marketing

Rare Vantage Point

Mike's perspective on the future of food and agriculture comes from a vantage point that few possess. Since the mid 1980s, he has designed strategies for incorporating new technologies in agribusiness-ranging from precision agriculture, to online sales management systems, to global e-commerce ventures involving all aspects of the farm-to-consumer value chain.

His advanced view of technology is grounded in practical agribusiness experience. Mike grew up on a large corn-soybean farm in northeast Indiana and graduated from Purdue University, where his senior work included exploring the future of electronic sensors in agriculture. He later worked in management positions for a retail farm supplier and a leading global crop protection manufacturer.

In recent strategic planning positions, Mike has been privy to some of the most intimate details about the future of agriculture, as articulated by hundreds of companies-from the top players in the industry to the up-and-coming technological innovators. His breadth of experience and knowledge is matched by few, and his keen strategic insights provide unparalleled direction for companies who want to be the winners in tomorrow's agriculture.

Key experiences:

• Developed an online sales management system, linking dealers with the manufacturer's order-entry system, sales representatives, literature and technical library. Achieved 90% order rate in the target business units.
• Managed a global marketing fungicide portfolio, with a focus on Asia.
• Facilitated development of a global e-commerce structure to minimize inventory and working capital.
• Created strategies for new initiatives and strategic alliances to create and capture value from biotechnology and information technologies that are changing the value chain.

Education:

• Bachelor of Science, Purdue University; Major: Agronomy

Perspective of Experience

What's often missing in agribusiness today is an awareness of potential hidden pitfalls and an understanding of how larger systems integrate to affect your business. Mark helps companies overcome these "blind spots" based on a variety of perspectives. From leading the turn-around of a family farm to the start-up of an entrepreneurial new business to top management at a multinational conglomerate, Mark sees agribusinesses from all of these angles because he's been there.

He worked tirelessly to change the rules of the game for farmers and marketers alike by developing and commercializing value-added grains as co-founder of ExSeed Genetics. As a director at BASF Plant Sciences, he led the expansion of this and other businesses focused on creating and maximizing opportunities in the food and feed value chain. And he still owns and manages a 3,400-acre cash grain farm in Illinois that serves as Mark's laboratory to test the latest systems and ideas designed to increase farm profitability. These perspectives make him uniquely suited to help agribusinesses develop the foresight to capitalize on their opportunities.

Key Experiences

• Mark's early career experiences in the banking industry serving ag and commercial lending accounts have given him a keen sense for the financial ramifications of a firm's alternatives. This has helped him choose the most profitable avenue for growth.
• He is dedicated to furthering the industry through service to groups ranging from the USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) Advisory Board to the Board of Trustees for the Farm Foundation.
• Mark is well-versed in all aspects of management ranging from long-term strategic planning to operations.

Education

• Bachelor of Science, University of Illinois; Major: Agricultural Economics
• Post-graduate studies, University of Illinois; Agricultural Policy